• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.12A no.6 s.96
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• pp.515-522
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• 2005

This paper presents a method for effectively modeling inlay/onlay prostheses restoring a tooth that are partially destroyed. An inlay/onlay is composed of internal surface adhering to an abutment, and external surface revealed to the outside sight. Internal surfaces are modeled using Minkowski sum expanding the grinded surface parts of abutments so that the internal surfaces can adhere to the abutments with closer contact. In modeling external surfaces, we exploit 3D mesh deformation techniques: DMFFD(direct manipulation free-form deformation)[19] and MWD(multiple wires deformation)[17] with three kinds of informations: standard teeth models, mesh data obtained by scanning a plaster cast of a patient's tooth, FGP(functionally guided plane) measuring the occlusion of the patients's teeth. The standard teeth models are used for building up the basic shapes of external surfaces, while the plaster fast and FGP data are used for reflecting the unique properties of adjacent md occlusal surfaces of the patients's teeth, which are slightly different to each other but very important for correct functioning. With these informations as input data, the adjacent and occlusal surfaces are automatically generated as mesh data using the techniques of DMFFD and m, respectively. Our method was implemented so that inlay/onlay prostheses fan be designed more accurately by visualizing the generated mesh models with requirements by dentists.